Chapter 8 Eye Contact
POV: Carly
Time moved like it had a personal grudge against her.
The clock on the wall of the lecture hall had not changed in what felt like twenty minutes and Carly was fairly certain she had read the same paragraph four times without absorbing a single word of it.
Spellistry was supposed to be the easy class. Every senior was required to take it for graduation eligibility. The supernatural equivalent of a beginner's chemistry course except with considerably more strange ingredients and considerably less logical explanations. Carly could do this coursework in her sleep. She had been doing versions of it since she was old enough to hold a candle.
What she could not do, apparently, was focus on any of it with Niko Monroeson sitting four rows behind her.
She could feel him back there. That specific awareness that showed up every time he was nearby, like a frequency her body had tuned into without her permission. She kept her spine straight and her eyes forward and her pen moving across her notes like she was the picture of academic focus.
She glanced over her left shoulder.
He was actually paying attention to the lecture.
That was somehow more annoying than if he had been staring at her. His forehead was creased the way it got when he was focused on something. Bottom lip caught between his teeth. Left hand rubbing along his jaw while his right moved across the page taking actual notes like a person who was here to learn things.
Rebel Niko Monroeson. Model student. Sure.
She turned back around.
He was looking at her now.
She didn't know how she knew without seeing it but she knew. That radar they apparently both had for each other activated and she could feel his eyes on the back of her head like a physical weight.
She shifted in her seat. Cleared her throat. Tried to look very busy.
Professor Swanson continued talking at the front of the room and Carly continued pretending to listen and the two of them continued their silent back and forth like they were the only two people in the building.
"You know." A voice appeared directly behind her left ear. "You two should really just do everyone a favor and get it over with."
Carly nearly launched herself out of the chair.
She whipped around to find Katy sitting directly behind her, chin practically resting on her shoulder, a slow smirk stretched across her face. The girl sitting next to Katy had already looked up from her notes and was watching with wide curious eyes.
Carly turned back to the front immediately, jaw locked. "Excuse me." She kept her voice to a sharp whisper.
"You and Monroeson." Katy said it like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "Ten minutes of eye contact. I counted."
"We were not making eye contact."
"You were absolutely making eye contact. And honestly it was making me feel things so thank you for that."
Carly's grip tightened on her pen. "Are all vampires this inappropriate and nosy or is that just a you thing?"
"Probably both." Katy shrugged. "We have heightened senses. Sexual tension reads like a neon sign from about a mile away and you two are basically a billboard."
The girl sitting next to Katy pressed her lips together trying not to smile and looked back down at her notes. Carly clocked it immediately and felt the heat crawl up the back of her neck.
"You are wrong." Carly said firmly, still facing forward. "And inappropriate. And I have a boyfriend."
"And?"
"And he is the only person I have any kind of tension with."
"Babe that is genuinely not how it works."
"Do not call me babe." Carly turned just enough to level her with a look. "We live together and apparently we share a class and that is the full extent of what we are to each other. So whatever you think you're sensing, you're wrong. Drop it."
Katy tilted her head with that unbothered smile. "You're really defensive for someone who has nothing to be defensive about."
"Because I don't want rumors spreading about me." Carly turned back around. "I don't associate with vampires. I never have. So you and Niko and whatever heightened senses you think you have can leave me alone."
"Just so you know." Katy leaned forward one more time. "Him being a vampire doesn't mean I know him. I just know of him because knowing who leads your own faction is kind of important. We're not friends."
"I didn't ask."
"I know." Katy sat back. "Just making sure you weren't about to lump us together."
Carly exhaled slowly through her nose and stared at the whiteboard.
She was not thinking about Niko Monroeson. She was not aware of exactly where he was sitting in this room. She did not have a radar for him. She had a boyfriend. She was fine.
The lights at the front of the room clicked on and Professor Swanson clapped her hands together signaling the end of the lecture.
"Before you all disappear." She called out over the shuffle of bags. "I have one more piece of business. You will each be assigned a partner of my choosing for a collaborative spell project. Presentations in three weeks. Any spell of your choice as long as I approve it first." She paused. "And no hexing."
"I think she means you, love."
Carly blinked and then realized the quiet snickering rippling through the seats around her meant Niko had said it loud enough for half the class to hear and that it was directed at her.
She turned slowly.
He was already looking at her with that expression. The one that was almost innocent if you didn't know better.
If looks could kill he would be ash.
"Mister Monroeson." Professor Swanson's voice cut through the room. "What an honor to have you in yet another one of my classes. Since you're so enthusiastic about this assignment you can be the first to receive your partner."
Carly was already packing up her bag. She needed air. She needed to be on the other side of a wall from Niko Monroeson as soon as physically possible.
She heard her name.
Her hands went still.
"Miss McPherson." The professor said it again clearly. "You'll be partnering with Mister Monroeson. See me before Thursday for spell approval."
The room went quiet in that specific way that meant everyone had heard and everyone was very interested in what happened next.
Carly sat completely still for three full seconds.
No.
Absolutely not.
"Guess you'll have plenty of time to work out that nonexistent tension now." Katy's voice floated over her shoulder cheerfully as she stood up and swung her bag on. "Good luck with that."
She was gone before Carly could respond.
Carly stood up slowly, gathered her things and walked down to the front of the lecture hall where Professor Swanson was already perched on the edge of her desk reading through papers like she hadn't just detonated a bomb in the middle of Carly's semester.
Author's Note:
PARTNERS. They are PARTNERS. Professor Swanson said what she said and she is not taking it back. Drop a like and tell me in the comments, is this the best thing that could have happened or the absolute worst? Add us to your library because Chapter 9 is coming and Niko has opinions about Carly's ground rules!